Photograph
by StephanieIrvine
Summary: Everyone saw that photo, it spread like wildfire. It was only a matter of time before Stephanie saw it and well, to say she wasn't happy? Well, understatement of the century. Chris Jericho and Stephanie McMahon.


**A/N: **I know there's like already been some stories about the gross, ass picture floating around out there. Seriously, the internet can't like get corrupted and banish that from our lives? I really liked Glamagirl take on the photo incident, so y'all should like go read that. It's called Lost Cause. You won't be disappointed. Also, this may or may not be a continuing story (you can thank Nina for that) – I do not do well with multi-chapter fics, I lose interest, I don't update often, basically I suck, but if you think it'd be a good multi-chapter story…review and let me know.

**Disclaimer:**Not mine. They just belong to each other, that's what I've been brought up to believe. I've been taught well.

**Photograph**

She'd saw it, fuck she'd bet the whole roster had saw it. She had no doubt that all the guys had high fived him and patted him on the back and made some crude comment like _"Was she a good lay?"_ It's usually how it went. She hadn't wanted to see, who in their right mind would? She'd been working, going over contracts and drafts of next weeks scripts: cutting out the bullshit that dwindled on and improving lines. It was monotonous and her eyes were getting tired. There was only so much of SuperHunter she could take, and she couldn't take that much to begin with. She wasn't happy that her father had insisted on this, she had complained but her complaints fell on deaf ears. No matter what her father thought, or Paul for that matter – there was no chance for any reconciliation.

She wasn't prone to checking wrestling sites, she had people who did that for her, let her know what had been leaked and what the public knew and how they could change it so it garner better ratings, but she succumbed every now and again. She checked the usual sites, read the usual gossip, WrestleMania spoilers, who was recently fired and then she saw his name, and she smiled a little. She couldn't help it, she always smiled when he was around or she heard his name or in this case read it.

But then she read it all:

**Chris Jericho locks lips with diva. **

Oh, so that's what it's like to feel your heart being ripped in half? She expected it to sting some what, she wasn't prepared for the feeling of being incapacitated – like she'd just stepped in front of an on-coming truck and being hit dead on. Apparently she was even more masochistic than she ever thought she was, because she watched herself click that link, observed herself watching the loading bar, load, noticed how she braced herself as she saw the picture fill the screen, and then she felt herself sag as she fully took in the picture.

Kelly Kelly?

She gagged, she physically gagged at the sight of it. She was glad the website tag covered her face, or she may have been physically sick.

She took a breath. Why the fuck was she taking a breath? Yeah, she'd breathe in and out and that'd somehow help this fucking situation she found herself in? Un-fucking-likely. He'd kissed Kelly? What was he thinking? What the fucking hell was he thinking? She wanted to know what the hell was going through his mind the second before, during and after his lips touched Kelly's. If it wasn't something along the lines of, _Oh, I just fucked up_, then she didn't know what the hell reality she suddenly found herself in. He'd _kissed_ her?

Why did he kiss her? Sure, she and Chris had, had an argument – they _always_ had an argument – but they always made up. Yes, they hadn't spoken for a few weeks, but they had gone months without talking once and he hadn't kissed anyone. What was so different now? Was it because she was blonde? Was it because she was younger? Was it because she was slimmer?

Stephanie knew she had put on a couple of pounds, but she'd just had her second child – _their_ second child – so it was to be expected and it wasn't like she hadn't been trying to lose them, she had. She'd tried the blonde look, Chris had told her she looked sexier as a brunette. She was younger than him, she wasn't half his fucking age, but she was younger than him.

Why did he kiss her?

She felt empty, they'd share his bed, created two daughters and he was kissing other girls? She refused to label Kelly Kelly as anything but a girl – you had to reach a certain age before you were considered a woman and that bitch sure as hell hadn't reached it. She hadn't reached the standard IQ average either, but that was neither here nor there. God, he'd kissed someone else and he hadn't felt the need to come to her and tell her himself. He didn't soften the blow and tell her it was a mistake. Was it a mistake? Did he think that she was a mistake, that their daughters were mistakes? Was Kelly the answer and Stephanie the nuisance?

Were they over?

It was nice of him to let her in on the fucking loop. What he couldn't pick up the damn phone or flip open his cell and tell her, _'It's over I found someone better. Catch you around.' _ Was that so hard? Was he inept at everyday tasks? Did he excel in stupidity? He had to if he was fucking stupid enough to kiss that…that _child!_ Oh God, what if he hadn't stopped at kissing. What if he followed her back to her hotel room, led her to the bed and…hadn't stopped at kissing.

She was going to be sick. Well, she was after she wiped at her eyes. Damn him for making her cry. How could he? How could they have gone through all the shit they went through with Paul for this to be the outcome, for this to be where they ended. Didn't she mean anything to him? Did he sustain a blow to the head that rationalized his actions and made this an everyday thing? Could she hit him across the head so he reverted back to normal? Could she just hit him? She _really_ wanted to hit him.

That asshole! God, she hated him and she loathed Kelly. That slut! She was barely legal and had the worldly knowledge of a fucking sorority girl, all she was good for was lying flat on her back or staying on her knees. How dare she kiss Chris. How dare Chris kiss _back!_ She hated them.

How could he divorce Jessica to be with her and then kiss someone else? Was he at the start of a mid-life crisis? Could she not have had a little bit of a fore-warning if it was? Couldn't he handle having five kids, an ex-wife and a…whatever the fuck she was to him? Did he feel the need to add a twenty-something to the mix just to finish off the end package?

Stephanie was faithful, she hadn't let anyone but Chris touch her in years. Not even when she was married to Paul, but when she fell pregnant with Aurora that was inconsequential, they'd split and she'd gone to Chris and he'd told her it was about damn time. You know what was about damn time? Him fucking letting her in on the loop. For fuck sake they'd been in a relationship and he felt it apt to kiss another person? Was he on something? Was he high? Was he inebriated? Was he out of his fucking mind?

He had too be, there was no way in hell that he would kiss anyone else if he was conscious of what he was doing. Right? He wouldn't do that to her? He wouldn't hurt her like that, right? He loved her, he told her – everyday – he loved her. This was how he treated someone he loved? Did he tell Jessica he loved her and then came to her and fucked her? Was that the type of man Chris was? Aurora and Murphy were part him, how could he taint them? How could he know what kind of man he was and willingly taint them. They were meant to be pure and he had tainted them already.

He was here tonight wasn't he? He was scheduled for the top of the show. He was here and he hadn't come to seek her out, to explain or even to fucking tell her. What a fucking coward.

She'd show him, she'd seek _him_ out.

She waited, she watched him on-screen, watched as he beat and blooded a man almost twice his age. Watched as he ripped the clothes from his back and ripped his possessions from his hands – funny that, it was almost the same as what he'd done to her. Only her damage was internal.

She watched him break the watch (break her heart), stamp on it over and over, smirk at a job well done and leave the carnage in his wake as he walked away.

She was waiting for him, she wouldn't fall as easy as the body out there (she'd fall when he left). She waited and there he was, blooded shirt and all. He looked up and saw her, caught her eye and the smirk fell from his face. She was glad for that, because she's sure her face held nothing but barely contained rage. Her eyes bore into his, a dirty grey clashing with a cobalt blue, and then she turned and stormed away. He followed her, he called her name but she didn't answer, she couldn't. She would have exploded right there in the hallway had she answered and she wasn't much for public scenes, apparently Chris was, that kiss was very public. It being a photograph proved that, the fact it was spread over the internet, well, that was just a fucking bonus.

She slammed the door to her office shut behind her, and counted – one, two, three – the door swung open. She turned around and the second he closed the door the words flew from her mouth.

"How was the kiss?"

She heard him sigh, he fucking sighed? He'd kissed another girl, and when she brought it up, confronted him, he….sighed? "Steph…"

"No, you don't get to call me that. For fuck sake Chris, you kissed someone else? Kissed!" she exploded stepping forward so she was in his face. "How was it? Was it good? Is she a good kisser? She looks like a good kisser, I think the slut look preludes to the fact that she'd be a good kisser. I could be wrong though, she could just be good at lying on her back. She is blonde after all. Does she lie down and her brain switches off? Well, what little brain she has anyway, cause let's face it – how many wrestler have passed her round? Those brain cells must have been fucked out her, right? I just didn't think you'd be one of them." She told him scathingly. "Shows how wrong I was huh?"

"I didn't fuck her."

"No," she told him and a part of her, a very small part of her, was glad of that. "But you kissed her."

"It wasn't like that."

"No? What, you tripped, fell on to her lips and someone just happened to be taking a picture at that exact time? Hmm? Is that it?" Stephanie questioned rapidly. "Please, tell me, I'm dying to know. Tell me why the father of my kids, _kids, _had his lips on some skank. Inform me Chris, I really want to know what happened."

"Where are they?" he asked her and she wanted to slap the spit out of his mouth. He was playing concerned father now? How fucking big of him.

"My mother has them. I was going to bring them, but Aurora wanted to stay so I figured why not, it's not like their father was going to watch them, he was too busy making out with other people."

"I didn't make out with her." Chris told her with another sigh and she hated his fucking sighs, if he sighed one more time she would slap him and she'd make it hurt.

"Well, I'm waiting."

"A group of us went out for a drink. She was there and we got talking."

"So you were drunk?"

"No."

Strike one.

"On something?"

"No."

Strike two.

"Mid-life crisis?"

"What? Steph no, I was sober."

Oh, a swing and a miss rookie. Strike three was going to hurt so badly.

"Sober?" she screeched, she could have handled a drunken kiss, it would have been nothing and he would have felt guilty, but sober? God, was he trying to make her feel like nothing? He was doing a damn fine job. "You were sober?"

"Yes." And he had the decency to actually look ashamed.

"I hate you." She whispered.

"No," he spoke up, taking a step towards her reaching for her arm. "Steph I –"

"Don't fucking touch me!"

He didn't and she was glad, because she's sure she'd break if he touched her.

"Steph, Stephanie – it's not what you think. She kissed me, I did not kiss her." he told her vehemently. "We were talking, shockingly about you, and I told her I was pissed at you because we had the start of a storyline and then it was all changed and _Paul,_"he bit out with such disgust, she had to hide a smirk. He really hated Paul. "Is in my spot and I'm facing fucking decrepit old men instead of protecting you, like I should, like I want too. Then, _then,_ to top it all off she turns to me and goes – in her fucking whiny ass voice – _'I've got a way to make you forget her.´_ and then her lips are on mine Steph and I'm thinking to myself what the fuck is she _doing_?" he breathed out and she saw his fists clench at his side.

"Yes, someone just happened to be taking a photo at the exact moment in time, but you know what it didn't get? The aftermath. You know what it didn't show? Me, pushing her away. Me, telling her to get the fuck off me. Me, informing her, the while I may be pissed at you for this fucked up storyline I should be in – that was written for me, that I never get, because your father is a fucker – that doesn't mean, ever, that I don't love you, that I don't want to be with you, that I, for one second wish I was with her, because I don't she means nothing to me, whereas you, you mean everything to me."

Wow, that was an explanation.

"I should have told you. I should have called you, I should have done something, because I knew you'd see. But I was being petty and I figured maybe, maybe, if you saw it you'd be hurt. Like I was."

"Hurt?"

"It was our storyline and then I'm facing hall of famers and Paul is in my place? What the fuck Steph?"

"You think that was my idea? You think I'd rather have him in your place, rather than you?" she questioned incredulously. "Chris this is my father's idea. I don't want to be in this storyline, I wanted to be in one with you. You'd think after six years, you'd figure that out."

"I guess I'm slow."

"Well you're not the brightest crayon in the pack, that's for sure." She commented with a scoff.

"I love you, I love our life – okay so the last couple of weeks not so much, I miss you like crazy and I can't sleep without you – I wouldn't jeopardize it for anything, least of all a girl half my age. Don't you know you're enough for me? Do you have any idea how crazy I am about you? I adore you, just like my son does."

"I wasn't sure, I mean we haven't talked in weeks – I thought you might have found someone better." Stephanie admitted, looking down.

"To me, they'll never be anyone better." Chris enlightened her, reaching out and lifting her chin until her gaze was even with his own. "Don't you remember when months had passed and we hadn't uttered a word to each other? A few weeks is nothing to us." He kissed her then and for the first time that night, she felt herself relax.

"Are you coming home tonight?"

"You couldn't keep me away even if you wanted too." He let her know while hugging her too him. "Can you do me a favour though?"

"What?" she wondered, her head resting on his chest. She missed the way his heart beat.

"Can you like fire Kelly? I don't like skanks hitting on me."

"Consider it done."


End file.
